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“Max announced he’s retiring at the end of the summer. Otherwise, same old stuff.”
Brooklyn’s eyes almost rolled onto the floor. “No way. He can’t retire.” Max Hale was the oldest attorney in the firm his grandfather and great-uncle had started ages ago. Despite his ruthlessness in the courtroom, the man was as friendly as a puppy in the office. She’d miss seeing him around every day.
“He keeps insisting the end of August is it for him. I think the heart attack he had in the fall scared him. Maybe it made him realize he isn’t going to live forever and that he needs to start enjoying himself,” Derek said, standing. “I’m starving. Do you mind if I grab something to eat?”
“Help yourself. But there’s not much here right now.”
Derek strolled into the kitchen, and she couldn’t help but watch him. Even when he walked you could detect his confidence. In fact, it all but oozed out of the guy. No doubt about it, he was comfortable and happy in his own skin, and his family accepted him just the way he was. Too bad you couldn’t somehow absorb some of another person’s confidence by simply being around them. Then again, if you could, she’d have oodles of confidence b
y now, considering all the time they’d spent together over the past ten years.
“You weren’t kidding. You don’t have much in there.” He returned carrying an unopened bag of pretzels and another can of cream soda. Sitting, he tore into the bag, offering her some before taking any himself.
“All set.” She’d indulged enough while out in California, something her mom had pointed out more than once. She needed to get back to eating healthy again, which meant more salads and less turkey clubs with extra mayo. “Next time you stop by, the kitchen will be fully stocked again.” It wasn’t unusual for Derek to stop by after work during the week.
He popped a handful of honey wheat pretzels, her favorite kind, in his mouth and chewed before he spoke again. “I have a big favor to ask.”
Okay, he had her absolute attention now. Derek almost never asked for a favor. In fact, she’d known him for a decade and could probably count on one hand the number of times he’d asked her for any type of help. She suspected it was a good thing she was sitting down already.
“I’m all ears.”
Derek cleared his throat. Somehow what he’d considered a fabulous plan a few weeks ago when his aunt sat across from him now didn’t seem so wonderful. What other choice did he have? Backing out on Aunt Marilyn was out of the question. That left him with two options: either he asked Brooklyn for her help or he left things to chance and prayed to every possible god Tasha Marshall didn’t win him at the auction. Of those two choices, begging Brooklyn for her help was the less painful. Although he didn’t suspect he’d have to do much begging. Brooklyn was the nicest, most caring individual he knew. He couldn’t think of a single time he’d seen someone ask her for help and she hadn’t complied.
“You’ve heard about the upcoming bachelor auction the Helping Hands Foundation is holding this month.” He’d seen her name on the list, so it was a stupid question, but it was a good way to ease into the topic and make his request.
Brooklyn nodded as she changed her mind and snagged a handful of pretzels from the bag he held. “Mom bought tickets for all of us. She said something about it being good PR for the agency.”
While Brooklyn’s father was the CEO and President of Dimension Marketing, one of the top marketing firms in New York City, her mom lorded over the top-notch talent agency she’d established once her modeling days officially ended. The talent agency, which represented some of the biggest names in movies and modeling, was only a tiny piece of Scarlet Novak’s empire. She also had a whole clothing line, as well as a line of makeup and beauty products.
“Milan is looking forward to it. I know, big surprise,” she said, referring to her oldest sister. The one he’d always liked the least. While there was no denying the woman was beautiful, she had a nasty side to her. “Paris too, but only so she can gloat about her recent marriage to Seth, I think.”
As always, it amazed him how different Brooklyn was from her two sisters.
“Anyway, what about it?”
He took another swig from his cream soda, grateful she always kept several cans on hand. He knew she did it for him. She hated the stuff. Actually, she rarely drank any soda. “Aunt Marilyn roped me in to participating.”
Brooklyn’s eyebrows all but touched her hairline, and her eyes got as big as dinner plates. “Stop. It. She did not.”
He still couldn’t believe he’d agreed either, so his friend’s astonishment made sense. “She did. She nabbed my cousin Scott too, which was inevitable. And that’s why I need your help.”
She grew serious as she reached for more pretzels, but pulled back at the last minute and folded her hands together. “Yeah, sure, of course. But what do you need my help with? Do you need someone to dress you or something?” Her lips inched up into a smile. “I’m sure you could find plenty of other women to volunteer for the job.”
Most nights he’d appreciate her humor and would even have a great comeback. “I need you….” Man, he hadn’t expected this to be so hard. “I….” He stopped again. What if she’d planned to bid on someone else during the auction? There were a lot of men participating. He gave himself a mental shake. Brooklyn wouldn’t participate in such an event. She was only going because her mom had purchased her a ticket. With the unpleasant thought pushed aside, he returned to his original purpose. “I was hoping you’d bid and win the romantic dates with me.”
“Excuse me?” Brooklyn asked, her voice several octaves higher than normal.
“There are some guests on the list I’d rather not get saddled with. So I thought you could help me out and bid on me.”
“Ah, Tasha’s on the guest list, isn’t she?”
At least she understood his reluctance. “As well as a few others I’d rather not spend any evenings alone with.”
“Let me make sure I’ve got this right. You want me to win so you don’t have to back out and disappoint your aunt or go out with anyone else who might win.”
“Correct. I’ll give you the money. You don’t actually have to use your own and you can bid as high as you need to. You’d have a blank check, so to speak. The only thing is, my aunt can’t know. It can’t look like we staged everything. I think she’d be furious.” Although he didn’t understand why, because in the end, the foundation would still get the money.
This time when she reached forward, she did pull a handful of pretzels from the bag. Pointing one of them at him, she said, “She’ll find out at some point. Like when we don’t go on the four dates I won with you. The media is going to try to document the heck out of this whole affair, especially when it comes to you and your cousin. They’ll notice when you and I don’t show up at some super romantic places together.” Brooklyn popped her makeshift pointer in her mouth and chewed it. “Besides, everyone in your family knows we’re friends. I don’t think she’ll buy it.”
